Life
by Chibimono Akuno
Summary: If Zoro's scars are his life... Then what is Luffy's? [ZoLu shounen ai]


**Title: ** Life  
**Author: ** Chibimono Akuno  
**Fandom: ** One Piece  
**Pairing: ** Zoro x Luffy  
**Rating: ** G  
**Word Count: ** 846  
**Warnings: ** Angsty fluff... I think. It's emotional... or something. . ;;  
**Disclaimers: ** Not mine. Just pretending. Oda makes the world go 'round.  
**A/N: ** I'd say this is set sometime after Arabasta, because Zoro's got his scars above/around his ankles from the Little Garden arc, and there is mentioning of Ace.

**Life**  
_by Chibimono Akuno_

Zoro was using his filthy shirt to dry the sweat off his skin after some training when he felt eyes watching him. He turned to find his captain had shifted his position on the ram's head so that he was staring at his first mate instead of facing the other way and looking out to sea. Quirking an eyebrow, Zoro did not know what to make of the staring, but he felt no need to let it bother him. He proceeded to flop onto the deck for his afternoon nap.

Soon finding it hard to sleep under such scrutiny, Zoro opened his eyes to find that, indeed, Luffy was still staring at him.

"What?" the swordsman growled. When Luffy shrugged and shuffled around so he was facing the opposite direction, Zoro wondered if he was too harsh. Luffy made no other move, and so Zoro took that as a sign to sleep.

He woke later to find that the rubber boy's gaze was upon him, but from a much closer distance. Luffy had taken up a spot on the deck right beside Zoro and continued his staring from earlier.

Zoro was going to demand an explanation, but he stopped.

There was something in Luffy's eyes as he watched Zoro. Something in his whole face that told Zoro there was deep, restless, profound thought, churning far down inside his captain's pea-sized brain. His expression was calm, and yet set with determination, as if he was right on the edge of making this thought he had... into something real.

"What is it?" Zoro asked, his voice low and hoarse. He felt raw under such an examination, like his captain was looking all the way through him to reach all angles of his body. He began to wish his shirt had not become so nasty from working out, because he was really beginning to feel that he should put it back on.

Luffy said nothing, only reaching out with his hand to Zoro's arm. A rubbery finger touched a faint mark on the swordsman's arm, tracing its short length, before moving to another scar further up on Zoro's shoulder. The captain's finger moved down to Zoro's stomach, tracing the many marks of battle damage caused by so many weapons aimed to gut him. A shiver ran up Zoro's spine as Luffy found the scar on his hip, following the visible line until it disappeared under the waistband of Zoro's pants. Moving around his first mate's body, Luffy found scars along Zoro's back. Without his boots, Luffy was able to get to the scars just above Zoro's ankles.

When Luffy finally returned his finger to Zoro's chest, when he finally followed that fateful slash bestowed by Mihawk, a small smile appeared on the rubber boy's lips.

"Zoro's life..." he said in a breathless whisper.

Zoro took Luffy's hand in his own, staring down at the finger that had touched him so softly. "What?" he asked, more for a clarification than a lack of hearing.

"It's all Zoro's life," Luffy replied, a finger of his free hand moved to touch his first mate's scars again. "Because Zoro could have died... But you lived to become stronger. With each one, you became stronger."

Blinking, Zoro let the second hand follow again the massive fusion of flesh that was once a life-threatening gash. As it ended right there at Zoro's hip, he caught the second hand and held that, too. So, they stared then, at each other, and Luffy smiled. And Zoro let go of his hands.

"Is this...?" Zoro reached with his own hand this time, his finger caressing the mark just below his captain's eye. "Is this Luffy's life?" he asked quietly.

"Nope," Luffy said with a small shake of his head. "That's Luffy's childhood."

Zoro wondered about Luffy's childhood. He did not know much of it at all, even after meeting Luffy's brother, Ace. All he knew was that he made a promise to Red Hair Shanks and wore his straw hat. That he ate the _Gomu Gomu_ Devil's Fruit and can stretch like a rubber band. That he wanted to become a pirate, to head to the Grand Line, to find One Piece, to become the Pirate King. Zoro knew nothing else of Luffy's life before their fateful meeting in the yard of a marine base.

Yet, with a dawning realization, Zoro found that it did not matter. All he needed to know, he already knew. He knew Luffy better than anyone else on the crew. He knew his dreams, his hopes, his fears. He could not explain how he knew so much, or where the knowledge may have come from... But he just knew. He knew Luffy's life.

And when questing, rubbery fingers began to move tenderly along the flawed lines of his skin, Zoro smiled. Luffy was trying to learn. Trying to learn Zoro's life. Taking Luffy's hands into his own once more, Zoro brought them to his lips and kissed those seeking fingertips, offering lessons of Zoro's life that went beyond the marks on his body.

_- owari -_


End file.
